The family of an 8-year-old Claremont, New Hampshire boy (identity withheld) says the child suffered rope burns from local neighborhood teenagers in the backyard of a home near Barnes Park during the last week of August.

The boy’s grandmother, Lorrie Slattery, said her grandson and a group of teenagers were playing in a yard in their neighborhood around 5 p.m. on Aug. 28 when the teens started calling the boy racial epithets and throwing sticks and rocks at his legs, which escalated when  the teens stepped up on a picnic table and grabbed a nearby rope that had been part of a tire swing, Slattery said. Slattery told the Valley News that the incident was in fact racially motivated and “intentional.”

Slattery said she was able to recount what happened from her grandson’s 11-year-old sister and other children present (there were no adults)

“The (teenagers) said, ‘Look at this,’ supposedly putting the rope around their necks,” Slattery said. “One boy said to (her grandson), ‘Let’s do this,’ and then pushed him off the picnic table and hung him.” The boy sustained cuts to his neck and was airlifted to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. He has since been released.

According, to Valley News, The Claremont Police Chief Mark Chase confirmed his department is investigating an incident from Aug. 28 that involves several juveniles, but he declined to provide the details or even confirm whether the injuries to Slattery’s grandson was the incident in question, citing laws that protect the identities of juveniles.

“It remains under investigation,” he said.

Speaking generally, Chase said his department ‘takes seriously and investigates any crimes that are perceived to be motivated out of racism or other forms of bigotry.’ However, Slattery said police told her there wasn’t anything they could do because one or more of the teenagers claimed the incident was an accident. That explanation didn’t fit the facts she has ascertained.

“If it was an accident, that boy or anybody there wouldn’t have left him,” Slattery said. “I believe it was intentional.”

Apparently this isn’t the first racial incident in the neighborhood, nor the first time the teenagers used racial slurs towards her grandson, according to Slattery. She believes her grandson was targeted because he is biracial. She said she heard the term “lynched” was used during the incident.

The town of Claremeont, N.H., has 13,000 residents, and is 96 percent white, 0.6 percent African-American, and 1.8 percent biracial, according to the 2010 Census.

The boy’s mother, Cassandra Merlin,  later posted pictures of his injuries on Facebook with a brief caption about the incident.

The child did not suffer any internal injuries, Slattery said. “I think he had a guardian angel.”

Slattery said an interviewer who specializes in child abuse and spoke to her grandson at DHMC said the boy swung back and forth by his neck three times before he was able to remove the rope from his neck; Slattery said none of the teens came to his aid.

According to Slattery, no adults witnessed what happened, so she and others have been forced to piece events together from accounts of the children who were there. Among those in the backyard at the time was the boy’s 11-year-old sister, who went and found their mother, Cassandra Merlin, shortly after the incident.

On Tuesday, Claremont Police Chief Mark Chase confirmed his department is investigating an incident from Aug. 28 that involves several juveniles, but he declined to provide the details or even confirm whether the injuries to Slattery’s grandson was the incident in question, citing laws that protect the identities of juveniles.

As late as Friday, Claremont Police Chief Mark Chase would not comment on the specifics of the case, only saying that they were still investigating and that those involved are juveniles, prohibiting him specifically making any comment.

Chase also said that the kids being investigated (who knows if they’re charged) should be “protected.”

“Mistakes they make as a young child should not have to follow them for the rest of their life,” Chase said.

“Children” … children don’t show this kind of hate.

Speaking generally, Chase said his department takes seriously and investigates any crimes that are perceived to be motivated out of racism or other forms of bigotry.

Slattery said police told her there wasn’t anything they could do because one or more of the teenagers claimed the incident was an accident. That explanation didn’t fit the facts she has ascertained.

Slattery said her grandson is recovering physically, and he attended his first day of school on Tuesday, September 5th, 2017 in Claremont. She remains concerned about his mental well-being.

He won’t speak about the incident or express his emotions. Merlin, his mother, also is “traumatized” by the incident, Slattery said.

“I do believe he does not want to believe that he was being hurt purposefully,” she said. “That is the kind of kid he is.”